I was running short on time and couldn't do a full 6 circuits with the 45 pounder + planks. So I decided to pick up the 24 kg kbell and lumbered my way through 5 circuits. My form was getting wussy so I stopped that and then did 2 sets of 40 two-hand swings, and a third set with 24 reps.

Doing two-handed swings made my grip burn in a way I haven't felt in a long long time. Wowza. Maybe I need to start doing those more often, cause I've been doing one handed swings for years. The two-handed swings aren't really all that much easier, and man, they seemed to work me in a very different way.

I'm going to get my first ever massage tonight. Apparently the place is a real doozy and massages deep. I suspect I'll be in boatloads of pain. I've wanted to do this forever, because I'm certain I have lots of tightness and damage everywhere. Here in Shanghai it's pretty cheap and can, apparently, be really good if you know the right place (Or really bad, or accidental sex work).

EDIT: The images are not loading on my computer, but here in China with a spotty VPN many things don't load. Please let me know if it worked.

If you have shadowsocks, I can PM you details for my personal server I used when I was living over there. Worked decently most of the time, besides certain high security periods when they blocked everything.

Not sure if this is the right thread but I've been hitting the gym 3 days a week for two months trying to get in shape. I typically hit the rowing machine for 20-30 minutes, then 20-30 minutes hitting various weight machine things, then 15-20 on a treadmill.

Balrog, the best way to lose weight is to exercise regularly and track your caloric intake with an app like Lose It or My Fitness Pal. If you plateau even after the caloric reduction / tracking, try moving to a low carb diet and see if that helps you go further.

as for apps, Full Fitness is a good one. Strongur if you start getting into periodized lifting programs like 5-3-1 or Madcow 5x5. Stronglifts 5x5 app is very focused if you try Stronglifts 5x5 as a program (and I recommend it as a great place to start if you want to start doing barbell compound lifts).

three days a week of cardio and resistance training should make a real difference! congrats on getting in there! Do you feel any different?

___

today was Not Great, due to insomnia last night meaning I had about 4 hours of sleep before I got to the gym this am.

squat: bar and 135 for 5 to warmup, then 225, 290, 340, and 395 for 5, 425 for 3, and 340 for 5.

bench press: bar and 95 for 5 to warmup, then 150, 185, 230, 260 for 5, 300 for 3, and 230 for 8.

@Balrog: General recommendations for lifting: get away from the machines and learn the basic big compound movements: squat, deadlift, bench, overhead press, row. I know those can be intimidating at first (every single one of us was there at one point), but devoting yourself to those lifts is going to pay off much more than cranking out reps on a bunch of cable machines (which also have their uses, mind).

2/3 of my lifting sessions were good this week. Yoke squats were awesome, and I just did an upper body push/pull that went very well: band pushups, Kroc rows, face pulls, neck work.

Deadlifts last night were subpar, though. Not total shit, but just not on point. Was a little too drunk, haha. It’s not rare on a Friday for me to drink beer between sets, but I ended up drinking whiskey at the firm’s “partners meeting” before lifting. Missed the sweet spot! I have had some great lifts with a slight buzz, but if I’m just a little over the line it screws something up.

The “2 or 3 beers” warmup works pretty well for rugby matches, too, btw. Our pack players all shotgunned a beer before kickoff at our last match and I feel like I really *get* the sport. It was our best pack performance of the season so far, too. No way that’s a coincidence.

Thanks for the advice, fellas. I'm sticking to the rowing machine for 20 as a warmup. I'm still pretty intimidated by the squat, deadlift, bench, overhead press, and row but I'm putting my toe in the water lol.

Feeling the insomnia induced lethargy and apathy. I haven't been consistent for at least two weeks now. I woke up feeling like my brain was on the brink of death. It's difficult getting in a full workout and still having time to feed the kid and get dishes washed and get her up to bed on time. Augh.

I tried getting up early a few times this summer to run before work. But uh...nope. I am not good at early morning, it murders me.

Going to try something a little different for a while. No rugby matches in November, so I have some time to experiment. Will still have practice on Thursdays, but the rest of the week is free. Going to run Wendler's Krypteia from the 5/3/1 Forever book. It focuses more on conditioning than what I've been using (basically just regular old 5/3/1), which is better for my current training goal - being a better rugby player. My conditioning is currently miles and miles better than it was a couple of years ago when I was just training for strength and basically nothing else. However, it could always be better.

Krypteia should at least maintain my strength levels, but is supposed to increase my work rate. On the rugby pitch I'm confident in my strength; it's recycling over and over that wears me down. I almost never come out of a match (actually had to leave for a couple of minutes because my nose and eye were bleeding fairly profusely Saturday, tho!) and 80 minutes is a *long* time for my fat ass.

Will still be using the Yoke squat, trap dead, and band pushup as my main three lifts. The program is fairly simple: for the first two cycles I'm hitting 5 reps on the work sets (no AMRAP PR set), then 5x10 volume. Between every set (including warmups and volume) I will be doing close grip pushups (dips if my shoulder lets me) and chins or a row for sets of 10. I will alternate the push and pull each time. This has to be done before 45 minutes runs out.

On the upper body day I am to superset alternating sets of goblet squats and Romanian DL. Same time limit.

After two cycles of that you run one cycle where you use the traditional 5/3/1 scheme for the main sets, push for a PR on the last one, then do 5x5 "first set last" volume. You still do the supersetted assistance and you still have to beat the clock.

I dropped my training maxes, as Wendler and people who have run the program suggest and am excited about this challenge.

I feel like my bench is getting better but after a certain number of reps, I'm toast. Also, I broke a couple bones in my arm like 5 years ago and I don't think they healed back right. My left arm is definitely not as stable as my right.

Let us know how the program goes Mokrap! I've always been interested in conditioning focused stuff. I have Theories but I'm too scared of the Big Bang to really give a conditioning routine a run. I for sure should, some day.

Oof, even if the weight wasn't too much for two of the days, kettlebell three days in a row definitely activated some back muscles. I think on weekdays when it's just me and the kiddo I'll do shorter workouts (without the planks) so I'm not so pressed for time trying to be sure she is fed and dishes are done and I can get her up and ready for bed on time. What that means is I may be doing quite a bit of half routines (3 circuits instead of 6), followed by a bunch of swings and overhead press.

So, on to week two of Krypteia. Got through the first one with time to spare on each workout. I am starting out each session thinking "Damn, I lowered my training max too much" and ending each one fairly gassed, haha. This is fun, and it's nice to be in and out of the garagym so quickly.

Also, I bought a Slingshot and may dip my toe back into benching. Shoulder is still not 100% pain free, but with that device maybe I can make it work.

If not, band pushups 'til Valhalla!

I flirted with the idea of buying a new trap bar, as I often do. The cheapass CAP one I have is rusty, has short sleeves (which is why I bought 100# plates way back), and the knurling is beyond aggressive and is in straight-up cheese grater territory.

Buuuuuut it's the first piece of gym equipment I bought, there's nothing actually *wrong* with it, and it's rated to 750# (if I could somehow fit that much on there). Talked myself out of it! She's a tough old broad and I'm sticking with her.